The Eldorado girls' basketball team lost their season opener Thursday night, falling to Goreville 64-48.

Goreville jumped out to a 19-9 lead and took a 36-25 lead at halftime. The Eagles were able to outscore Goreville 12-7 in the third quarter, but the Blackcats went on to outscore EHS 21-11 in the final eight minutes of play.

The Eagles were led by Ashton Unthank's 17 points and seven rebounds. Taylor Godley and Kourtney Phillips each scored 10 points, while Goodley grabbed six rebounds and Phillips came away with three steals. Erica Graczyk chipped in with six points, while Paige Zertuche tossed in three points and Abby Stead scored two points.

"We got off to slow start in the first quarter," said Eldorado head coach Josh Bradley. I'm sure a little of that was first game jitters, but on the road against a very good basketball like Goreville, it was something we couldn't afford to do and we had to play catch up all night."

Bradley added that while his Eagles were able to get to lead down to six points several times and even as low as four at one point, his club just never could get a shot to fall when the Eagles needed it.

"We got in early foul trouble," Bradley said. "Cassidy and Abby came in to the game and I thought really gave us good minutes. Unthank our only senior starter gave us quality minutes all night and ended up putting together a good game."

Bradley said that Thursday night's loss was a good learning experience for his team.

"Goreville is a good team and it is really tough to play them at home. We showed a lot fight and guts in the game and now we have something to look at on film and get better. I told the girls not to look at the final score of the game, because it doesn't tell the whole story. It was really about a five to 10 point game for most of the night, they went on a 10-0 run with two minutes to play and we got fatigued from trying to fight back. We will make a few adjustments and learn from this game, it's not how good you are in November, it's how good you are in late January and early February that count."

In the junior varsity game, Eldorado earned a 25-12 victory where Steed led all scorers with 11 points. Caitlyn Stafford scored seven points, while Brooklyn Peavler finished with four points and Dresdyn Bramlett tacked on three points.